Fantastic footage of fjords with the DJI Mavic Pro

This footage, filmed by CreateOne film production on a DJI Mavic Pro high above Norway has us all checking our vacation days and airline ticket prices. The processing is a little heavy in some places and there's a couple of odd jello-tastic shots, but it's well worth the two minutes of your time if you're looking for a quick break from your day.

Comments

The landscape seems overly mountainous. And there are far too many water obstacles. Even if we got a 7-11 or Best Buy or Applebee's in there somewhere, I think building high-volume road access and large parking lots to accommodate the traffic would pose a challenge too expensive for viable retail exploitation and development.

A fair warning: take care to measure more than air fares or vacation days. Norway is super expensive. There a Big Mac costs around $5.67, versus $1.89 in South Africa. Fancier food or services are even more expensive, relatively. A nice place to visit, if you've plenty to spend. Otherwise, be thankful for the drone footage. A bit like Nova Scotia, eh? Ain't that where Erickson headed anyhow?

Breathtaking footage -- I would love to visit Norway one of these days. I actually really enjoyed the color timing -- sort of a burnt old style look. The "look" is such a subjective thing -- I feel that things don't have to look exactly like reality -- video by definition is "hyper, re-presentation" of reality. Of course, film makers still need to keep their audiences in mind.

This is the perfect example of someone pushing 8-bit 4:2:0 LOG footage past the breaking point in post. I'll be willing to bet that the original, ungraded footage looked decent but then they graded it way too hard. For example, the sky is so blocky that it looks like something out of Minecraft. Had they shot in a more linear gamma and not gone so extreme in their grading (or more likely, LUT selection), then I'll bet the footage would have looked pretty darn good.

I agree. Not knocking Mavic but I've seen my brother's Mavic footage and it looks kinda like the video...just didn't sell me. My Phantom 4 does way better in regards to color and that is straight from the camera no editing. I've seen both and I have to say Phantom 4 or 4 pro is much better. I would only consider the Mavic for it's portability and compact size. Other than that, I could care less for it.

The Mavic Pro has the same camera electronics as the Phantom 4 so the results should be very similar. If shot under the right conditions, with the correct setting and graded lightly, the Mavic and Phantom 4 can produce some nice footage. The problem is that many Mavic Pro owners don't know how to do this.Your right though, the Phantom 4 Pro should handily beat both of them with it's 1" sensor and better recording options. Now, if they would only put that camera on the Mavic body...

It's fundamentally an old-school point-and-shoot (as opposed to the 1" family that's popular now) on a really awesome carriage. I think it's lovely because of the availability of new perspectives by using it, but no, the footage isn't what you'd expect from a $1000 camera. But it's not a $1000 camera. It's a $950 drone with a $50 camera.

DJI's smart - you want the better quality camera? Need to pony up for the more expensive (and larger!) siblings in the lineup. I'm sure a Mavic Pro 2 or somesuch is in the works, but not yet.

They need to put the phantom 4 pro camera in the Mavic body. It may make it a little bigger, but I think 95% of quality conscious videographers would take that tradeoff. Panasonic managed to squeeze a 1" sensor into a phone, so I imagine DJI could make the camera unit from the phantom even smaller if they wanted to.

In regards to this video, if you are a pro film crew you should be using the inspire 2 for stuff like this, though. That thing is incredible. I guess they use a mavic so that they get featured in articles like this.

There is a press event on May 24th. Hopefully, they'll announce a Mavic Ultra or something. I am holding off buying anything until then.

Yes, I'd pay $1500 for that. I like the IQ of the Phantom 4 Pro but not the size. Also, I think the Mavic Pro's IQ is pretty decent, as long as you shoot under the right conditions and don't try to grade it heavily. This video is a perfect example of what not to do- shooting in 8-bit LOG and then pushing it too far in post. I downloaded the 700MB original clip from Vimeo and it's pretty much just as ugly. If you look at the sky, the severity of the artifacts are unbelievable. Had they shot in a more linear profile and not tried to go so extreme in post, it would have looked just fine.

Jadot, like I said, the value of the Mavic is that you will be able to use it more and get shots you wouldn't otherwise take with a larger drone, because the Mavic can be carried into places other drones cannot. And if $1000 is inexpensive to you, then great, but there's nothing cheap about this drone.

JackM - Thanks - I'll probably get one, but I'd be interested in optimising the quality. After looking on YouTube and digging into the huge amount of reviews it doesn't take long to see that you can get better results that the IQ in this featured video. It's a shame - I actually like the video and the production, It's just horrible compression and colour grading, apparently. That said, for what I need to shoot, it will probably be enough.

I think the quality is ok when you don't overdo the editing or the built in settings. Phones with similar small sensor manage just fine in good light (and you want to fly in daylight anyway). The big trade off in case of Mavic is small size and using of very compact gimbal. It's delicate, made for very small and light camera module, otherwise it works really well.

As others said, better to have this one in small bag and take it with you everywhere than pack a case with unfoldable Phantom or another more professional drone and pick very carefully where you can take it.

Poor IQ aside, cinematically trying too hard with the colour grading...I love the music choice but would be nice if there was some sort of storytelling. Nice place to shoot for sure. I was planning to get the Mavic Pro for shooting some fun projects but this video didn't seem to do justice I hope.

You don't buy a Mavic for top IQ, you buy it for portability. The camera is decidedly a point-n-shoot, and with a non-adjustable f/2.2 aperture to boot. (Need ND filters for best results) However the IQ is infinitely better than the shots you didn't take because you didn't or couldn't bring your bigger drone.

"This footage, filmed by CreateOne film production on a DJI Mavic Pro high above Norway has us all checking our vacation days and airline ticket prices."---I'd never go somewhere because of impressive aerial images. I won't see it as the drone did - not at all.

This was bizarre commentary on DPR's part. Flying a drone around is not the same as seeing it for yourself, either on the ground or from an aircraft. It's an entirely virtual experience... might as well watch a webcam feed.

While I like the sound design and the landscape itself is certainly very beautiful, the odd choice of color and the weird jello effects ruin the overall experience for me. I'm sure the color is simply a deliberate post processing choice from the makers, but Is that jello loaded video all you can expect from a Mavic Pro camera?

This is by far not the quality of footage the mavic can deliver. You really have to invest some effort into focusing, settings, nd-filters and it needs good lighting conditions. You can really get very good results. Footage from this little camera is just difficult to handle and has its limitations, especially when it is darker. It must be bad grading or a bad compression resulting from the upload, I do not know, why they show this here. The scenery is still very nice.

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